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Would a stand alone dac help, and how much?

 I’ve asked this question before, but I wanna see what kind of answer I get now. I have a Sonos connect to stream directly to Bryston  equipment. I use the dac  in the Sonos, and plug analog into the Bryston  preamp. Would it be better to buy a stand alone dac to put between the Sonos connect and the preamp? 

 Someone before said I should just dump the Sonos and get a blue sound node 2i, no stand alone dac.   I haven’t tried that, however I do like the interface that the sonos provides, I just don’t think the dac inside of the Sonos connect is very good. I’m not satisfied with the sq.  All the equipment is Bryson with the exception of aerial model six speakers and an older CD player with a optical out, which I could plug into a new dac. Any thoughts guys? Or girls? I appreciate any information, I am not very informed on streaming equipment Or formats or anything like that. I simply stream from Pandora, Spotify, etc.  Yes, I need to upgrade the service.  Also, what brands do you recommend?  I can spend up to $1500.  Thanks!
crossfree
erik_squires
16,069 posts
 
I own a Mytek Brooklyn, which has a feature you want when streaming from these types of devices: outstanding jitter rejection.

Best,

E
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jazzman7
348 posts
 
The simple answer is yes. And again yes, a Bluesound Node 2i would be a good way to go.  But even if you just stick with the Sonos, to take advantage of a better DAC really need to subscribe to a streaming service that streams at CD or better quality such as Qobuz or Tidal.  Qobuz at $150 a year would be my choice (as it provides hi rez options w/o requiring MQA ...  Tidal provides hi rez via MQA ... and Bluesound does support both Qobuz and Tidal and does unfold MQA).  Bluesound does not currently support Pandora (it supports just about everything else, Pandora being the notable exception).  If Pandora is important to you can still keep the Sonos in the system and feed the Sonos output to the Node via Toslink to take advantage of the Node 2i's better DAC.  If you just get a separate stand alone DAC and stick just with the Sonos, then you can still do Qobuz or Tidal, but will top out at CD quality, and be limited to the rendering capability of the Sonos, which I don't think will be as good as the Node 2i.  If you go the stand alone DAC route, there are many good new and used DACs in your price range.  But all things being equal, I think the Bluesound Node 2i would be a good place to start, and then down the road, if you wish to up your game, can add a separate DAC to the mix fed by the Bluesound kit.  Good luck.





big_greg
6,632 posts
 
You could get a TEAC NT-505 for a little over your budget and it would be more in line with what you have in the rest of your system.  It's a streamer and DAC that will outclass the Node 2i.
crn3371
224 posts
 
If you want to stay in the Sonos ecosystem I’d take a look at replacing your Connect with the modified version from Wyred 4 Sound. Add a decent external DAC and you’re golden. 
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